Mumbai: All-round Gujarat Titans beat fellow IPL newcomers Lucknow Super Giants by five wickets in a thrilling clash at Wankhede Stadium on Monday.
Rahul Tewatia 40*, Matthew Wade 30, Hardik Pandya 33, and David Miller 30 played inspiring knocks for Gujarat as they chased the target of 159 with two balls to spare in the battle of debutants against Lucknow.
Earlier, fighting knocks from Deepak Hooda and Ayush Badoni guided Lucknow Super Giants to 158/6 in their assigned 20 overs.
Lucknow who were at a spot of bother with 29/4 at one time were powered up by Deepak Hooda (55) and youngster Ayush Badoni who scored 54 on his debut. Mohammad Shami was a man on fire for Gujarat Titans as it was his sensational opening spell that yielded three wickets and left LSG in tatters.
Chasing 159, the Titans had a bad start as Dushmantha Chameera removed Shubman Gill in the first over. Chameera bowled on outside off stump delivery which Gill stepped down and looked to loft on the off-side, but it got off the bottom of the bat and went high in the air as Hooda took a well-judged catch.
Chameera struck again in his second over to remove Vijay Shankar. This time Sri Lankan pacer did the trick with a yorker on off stump at 145 KPH, Vijay Shankar was late to bring his bat down and got the bottom edge to rattle the stumps.
After the first six overs, the Titans’ score read 44/2 with Matthew Wade and Hardik Pandya on the crease. Both batters then started rebuilding as runs kept clocking for Gujarat.
With the partnership between Gujarat batters going strong, Krunal Pandya removed his brother Hardik in the 11th over. Krunal bowled on the middle stump as Hardik swung but doesn’t get it on the middle of the bat, and the ball went high in the air to long-off, Manish Pandey stationed there completed a safe catch.
In the very next over, Deepak Hooda clean bowled Matthew Wade. The Australian batter got low for the sweep and failed to get a bat on the ball as the stumps were rattled.
Rahul Tewatia then joined David Miller on the crease and bother batters shifted momentum towards Gujarat as they smashed a total of 39 runs in the 16th and 17th over. With 29 runs needed off the last 3 overs, Avesh Khan removed David Miller in the 18th over. Miller went back after scoring quick-fire 30 off 21 balls.
In the penultimate over, Abhinav Manohar and Rahul Tewatia gathered 9 runs as 11 were then needed in the last six balls of the match.
The debutant on the crease Abhinav Manohar who had ice in his veins smashed Avesh for two consecutive fours in the first two balls of the last over to avoid any chance of a last-ball thriller. Tewatia then smashed the winning runs for Gujarat-based debutants.
Brief Scores: Lucknow Super Giants 158/6 (Deepak Hooda 55, Ayush Badoni 54; Mohammad Shami 3-25) vs Gujarat Titans 161/5 (Rahul Tewatia 40*, Hardik Pandya 33; Dushmantha Chameera 2-22.